This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
PERIOD 6: SOPHIE'S CHOICE
What would you have done if you had been in Sophie's shoes and why? Please do not comment on anyone else's post.
25 comments:
Lalith Pramod Ganjikunta
said...
If it were me, I couldn't have possibly made a decision in such a time. It would have shattered me and completely kill my humanity. It would destroy me to see my children sent up to their because of my choice. I would have remember what I did for the rest of my life and it would haunt me day in and day out till the day I die. The Nazis came up with the most inhumane ways that had me enraged and sad. I couldn't believe the Nazis would declare something like that to anyone with children. How could they do these to people?
While watching this excerpt from the film "Sophie's Choice", I felt overwhelmed and heartbroken as I tried to put myself in her situation. I could not have possibly imagined having to go through what she did. The Nazi soldier was cruel and heartless in giving her an impossible ultimatum. Either way she was going to loose one of her children, and if she didn't pick which one, they would both be taken away. How could they expect a mother to choose which child she wants to have live? It was heartbreaking seeing the Nazi soldiers rip her children out of her arms, while young children are more attached to their parents than ever. It was terrible to watch.
If I were in Sophies shoes I don't know how I would have made a decision. To give up one of my children would be unbarable especially if it came down to having to choose which child to give up. It would also be unbarable to have both my children taken away knwing that i will never see them again. Having to make a decision like this one is something I can never in my life imagine making. To me personally if it really came down to it I would first sacrifice myself for them but if they wouldnt take me I feel overall I would have to give both my kids away because to have to chose which kid to keep would be something I wouldn't be able to live with.
I can't think of a worse position for someone to be in. To have to choose between your own flesh and blood while knowing that you are sending one to their death, would be the worst thing imaginable. This decision is horrendous but at the same time, you have to choose. You couldn't offer yourself because then no one would watch over your children, and you couldn't send both because then they would both be killed, In this instant, I would have to chose to keep the one with the best chance of survival. The older boy in this case, would have the higher chance of survival. If the mother was killed, the young girl would die shortly after with no defense skills, and the boy would maybe be able to survive longer on human instinct because he's older. He also would have a better chance surviving as a larger person and as a male in this society. The little girl would have been a much bigger target for the Nazis and because of this, I think I would of had to of made the same terrifying choice that Sophie did.
Choosing what child of yours would be taken away and killed would be the most difficult decision. In the moment, I know i wouldn't be able to make a choice in that instant. if i had to make a decision for one of my children or both to be taken away, I would have to choose one. i would probably choose the child who is the oldest because they would have greater chance of surviving in the camp with me, even though the conditions would be tough. Although I would be heart-broken forever choosing one of my children to be killed, I would still like to have one child with me because it's better than having no children.
Watching this short clip proved to me what a mother would do to save her children. Even though, Sophie couldn't give up herself to keep her girl and boy alive, she still ended up keeping her son and giving up her daughter in the heat of moment. She had no choice, if she wanted to keep one child because the guard was going to take away both of them if she didn't choose which one to keep. In the discussion we had in class, I shared with the class that I would keep one of my children because I didn't want both of them to die, I would be emotionally distraught. Then when I got home, I thought about some more and asked my mom if she would have given up me or my five siblings and she said she would have let the guard take all the kids because she didn't want to be reminded of the decision she made in the past. She didn't want to have to look at any of us and tell them why she let them take away the brother/sister. This would kill her inside and she would have to live with it for THE REST OF HER LIFE! so i very much agree with my mother.
If i were in Sophie's situation I could never have made a decision between my children it would be too hard me. Either way you choose to go your never going to be able to live your life the same and be able to be the same after it and that's whats upsets me most about it. after the class i went home and asked my mother what she would have done. She said she could never make a decision like that because it would be way to hard on her. overall i don't find easy to choose between your children and if you did to live everyday after that and look your child in the face you'd'd be constantly reminded of the child you gave away to be killed and that would be unbearable. All I could think about after watching the segment is what kind of person can ask such a messed up question, there isn't even a right answer to it because either way your losing a loved one, It just got to me.
If it were me, I couldn't have possibly made a decision in such a time. It would have shattered me and completely kill my humanity. It would destroy me to see my children sent up to their because of my choice. I would have remember what I did for the rest of my life and it would haunt me day in and day out till the day I die. The Nazis came up with the most inhumane ways that had me enraged and sad. I couldn't believe the Nazis would declare something like that to anyone with children. How could they do these to people?
Watching the clip from "Sophie's Choice" was really hard to see, knowing that thousands of people actually hand to make that inhumane decision. I can't realistically say what I would've done in a time like that because I can't even fathom what I would do. Neither way seems morally right, it was either that one child died or both did. I think in a time of panic I would've probably done what Sophie did and chosen a child. I would've chosen the child that I thought would've had a better chance to survive in the case that they were put through the worst because I wouldn't want the other child to suffer through it. I think when in a position where you have to make this type of choice it's less about who you love more and more about what is actually best for the child. Would it have been better for the little girl to have lived a little bit longer suffering or be in a place like heaven where she would prosper. As a human being, I don't think I could ever truly answer this question though.
I would rather die than have to live with the amount of guilt that was thrown on to anyone who had to make this awful decision. If I had been in Sophie's shoes, I'd like to think that I would be strong willed enough to throw myself in front of my children and not let them die without risking my own life first because family is the most important thing to me. It's impossible to know what I'd really do if I was thrown into this situation and I could never imagine being forced to make such a heartbreaking choice. I know a lot of people could look at Sophie's decision to give up one of her children as immoral and wrong, but I think that in that instant, the human mind just acts on impulse and does all it can to just protect as much as it can. I think it is possible that many people would have done the same thing as Sophie, given the situation, even though they wouldn't ever think that they'd be forced to make such a decision.
If I was in Sophie's shoes I honestly don't know what I would've done. I would have tried to do everything I could to bargain with the nazis. I would have offered them money or said they could take me instead. If none of that worked I don't think I would have been able to choose. I would not be able to look at my kids and think I want you to survive and I'm going to let you die. In class many people made the argument that they would save one because losing 2 is worse than 1 but to me it wouldn't be. I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of knowing that my child knowing that I chose them to die. I also wouldn't be able to look at the child I did safe with a constant reminder that in order to safe this child I had to kill my other. I wouldn't want my child to feel any guilt either thinking that they should have gone instead of their sibling
If I were in Sophie's position, I honestly don't know what I would do. I cannot even begin to imagine having to make a decision like that and I don't know how I would ever be able to pick between my children, knowing that I was sending one to be killed. I think in the moment, I would make a choice and save one because at least one of my children would have a chance of surviving, but I don't know how I could live with myself knowing I chose one child over the other. The decision that Sophie was forced to make shows just how heartless the Nazis were. They forced people to make impossible decisions and enjoyed their suffering.
Watching this video was very hard. I would not have been able to choose and would not have even known what to say. It is so wrong to make a mother choose which kid to keep and which to give. It is so unhuman to force someone to make a decision like that. i could not have chose.
In all honestly I do no know what I would do in a situation like the one Sophie was put in. Thinking about it for a long time makes me think I would become paralyzed in the moment and subconsciously chose a child out of fear of the situation. This is because i would not be able to make an intentional choice. I would not have been able to live with myself if I let one child go or if I let both children go by not making a decision. If I did send both children away, I would think of it as putting my children into the hands of god because he ultimately knows that I didn't send my children off like that because I wanted to or had the intention of Doing so. Therefore god would put a reason to it all and prevent me from being literally eaten by guilt. Also sending one child away would be justified by god as me giving everything to one child that I couldn't to the other.
Putting myself in Sophie’s position was very hard. I know I would have made a decision, however I can’t begin to fathom having to pick one of my children. Thinking about the decision I would have had to make, I couldn’t make a decision on what to do, but I knew I had to make a decision to save at least one of my children. The entire situation makes me sick to my stomach, but the question really got to me. It would be selfish of me not to save at least one of them just because I would have to live with the regret and have to make an inhuman choice, because that’s exactly what the question was asking for. To be able to answer a question like Sophie’s is inhuman, but to not answer the question is selfish and that is where the predicament lies.
If I were in the position Sophie was in I wish that I could have sacrificed my own life so that my children could live. Because Sophie did not have this option I think that I would make the same decision she had by giving up one of my children. This is because whether I hand over one of my children or both of them I am still going to be left feeling upset and guilty for my choice for the rest of my life. I think that it was smart of Sophie to give up her youngest child because the child was at an age where she needed a lot of attention and Sophie most likely had very little money to support the child. Her older child does not need as much of her and has a better chance of surviving than his younger sister. It is better to save the child with the greatest chance of surviving as there is no point in saving the child that will die soon. Also, her youngest child was very young so she most likely didn't really know what was going on. Sophie's son is old enough that he understands what is going on and would feel horrible knowing that his mother choose his sister over him.
This movie, though I only watched mere minutes of it, affected me more than any other movie we have seen yet to date. I could never in a million years imagine forcing someone to chose between their two children or being forced to chose between my two children. Although I'm not Sophie and I wasn't alive during the time period I do know what I would not choose one of my children. How on earth can someone do that to their child? How can you live with the fact that your son or daughter died thinking that their own mother didn't love them. I would have gone with my children into the gas chambers all together and died together because really quite honestly even if I had chosen the likelihood of the child I did choose being killed later or even days later were extremely high. The nazi's did not care at all about you and why make that decision with such an uncertain outcome. I just don't understand how any of this could have happened.
Watching this film segment showed me even more of the horrors that were brought on by the Nazis. Sophies choice was undoubtedly one of the hardest decisions anyone has had to make, ever. But we have to understand that the Nazis forced this decision upon thousands upon thousands of families during the Holocaust. At the point when Sophie had to choose, one of her children was allready dead, and there was nothing she could do to stop that, but she still had the ability to save one of them. In her position, I would have made the same decision. Her son appeared to be a little older and might have had a slightly better chance of surviving in the camp. The decision, while impossibly difficult to make, was still necessary as a life was still saved.
while watching this movie i was very stressed and didnt really know how to react because i would never even want to think about putting myself in that situation. What she had to do was crazy and i think it is impossible to have to choose one of your children to either die or go on and live. knowing this senario i think it would be impossible for me to choose espically if i was afther. I felt very sorry for her and i would never want to ever be in a situation like she was put into.
If I was in Sophie's position I think I would have made a split second decision to save at least one of my children. I feel that in that second I would have wanted at least one of them to live. Even saving one life is better than giving both up. Seeing a woman have to decide between her two children was awful and knowing that she was not the only one that had to make this decisions makes me so much more disgusted with the Nazis. They made thousands of people make decisions such as this one on a daily basis without feeling any kind of remorse.
Sophie's choice was probably the hardest choice anyone could make. Sophie faced the decision of whether to choose to save only one child at the expense of the other but later face the guilt of "why didn't I choose my other child?" or "why did I choose this child over my other child?" or, on the other hand, not decide who to save and prevent being overcome with the guilt of choosing one over the other but instead having the guilt of letting them both die because she couldn't make the decision to save one. In that specific moment, with the shock and the amount of time Sophie had, I probably would have made a similar choice and chose to save one of them (to minimize the damage) out of "random."
I think the timing of Sophie's choice is also important. It's important to realize that Sophie literally had seconds to make the hardest decision possible. To the Nazi soldier, it was a game, to make her have to choose in an impossible amount of time. Knowing that, I know that I couldn't have made a decision. I don't even know that it would be because of some rational though, like, I don't want to live with that guilt, but it would be because in those few seconds, I would have panicked and just based on instinct, not been able to pick one of my children to die.
If I was placed in Sophie's shoes I would not have been able to make a decision. I would not be able to pick a child because the other one would have died knowing that I favored the other one. Making a decision like that would have remained on my conscience for the rest of my life. Choosing one child would have saved them but I would not have gotten over the fact that I left the other one behind to face the horrific death camp alone.
25 comments:
If it were me, I couldn't have possibly made a decision in such a time. It would have shattered me and completely kill my humanity. It would destroy me to see my children sent up to their because of my choice. I would have remember what I did for the rest of my life and it would haunt me day in and day out till the day I die. The Nazis came up with the most inhumane ways that had me enraged and sad. I couldn't believe the Nazis would declare something like that to anyone with children. How could they do these to people?
While watching this excerpt from the film "Sophie's Choice", I felt overwhelmed and heartbroken as I tried to put myself in her situation. I could not have possibly imagined having to go through what she did. The Nazi soldier was cruel and heartless in giving her an impossible ultimatum. Either way she was going to loose one of her children, and if she didn't pick which one, they would both be taken away. How could they expect a mother to choose which child she wants to have live? It was heartbreaking seeing the Nazi soldiers rip her children out of her arms, while young children are more attached to their parents than ever. It was terrible to watch.
If I were in Sophies shoes I don't know how I would have made a decision. To give up one of my children would be unbarable especially if it came down to having to choose which child to give up. It would also be unbarable to have both my children taken away knwing that i will never see them again. Having to make a decision like this one is something I can never in my life imagine making. To me personally if it really came down to it I would first sacrifice myself for them but if they wouldnt take me I feel overall I would have to give both my kids away because to have to chose which kid to keep would be something I wouldn't be able to live with.
I can't think of a worse position for someone to be in. To have to choose between your own flesh and blood while knowing that you are sending one to their death, would be the worst thing imaginable. This decision is horrendous but at the same time, you have to choose. You couldn't offer yourself because then no one would watch over your children, and you couldn't send both because then they would both be killed, In this instant, I would have to chose to keep the one with the best chance of survival. The older boy in this case, would have the higher chance of survival. If the mother was killed, the young girl would die shortly after with no defense skills, and the boy would maybe be able to survive longer on human instinct because he's older. He also would have a better chance surviving as a larger person and as a male in this society. The little girl would have been a much bigger target for the Nazis and because of this, I think I would of had to of made the same terrifying choice that Sophie did.
Choosing what child of yours would be taken away and killed would be the most difficult decision. In the moment, I know i wouldn't be able to make a choice in that instant. if i had to make a decision for one of my children or both to be taken away, I would have to choose one. i would probably choose the child who is the oldest because they would have greater chance of surviving in the camp with me, even though the conditions would be tough. Although I would be heart-broken forever choosing one of my children to be killed, I would still like to have one child with me because it's better than having no children.
Watching this short clip proved to me what a mother would do to save her children. Even though, Sophie couldn't give up herself to keep her girl and boy alive, she still ended up keeping her son and giving up her daughter in the heat of moment. She had no choice, if she wanted to keep one child because the guard was going to take away both of them if she didn't choose which one to keep. In the discussion we had in class, I shared with the class that I would keep one of my children because I didn't want both of them to die, I would be emotionally distraught. Then when I got home, I thought about some more and asked my mom if she would have given up me or my five siblings and she said she would have let the guard take all the kids because she didn't want to be reminded of the decision she made in the past. She didn't want to have to look at any of us and tell them why she let them take away the brother/sister. This would kill her inside and she would have to live with it for THE REST OF HER LIFE! so i very much agree with my mother.
If i were in Sophie's situation I could never have made a decision between my children it would be too hard me. Either way you choose to go your never going to be able to live your life the same and be able to be the same after it and that's whats upsets me most about it. after the class i went home and asked my mother what she would have done. She said she could never make a decision like that because it would be way to hard on her. overall i don't find easy to choose between your children and if you did to live everyday after that and look your child in the face you'd'd be constantly reminded of the child you gave away to be killed and that would be unbearable. All I could think about after watching the segment is what kind of person can ask such a messed up question, there isn't even a right answer to it because either way your losing a loved one, It just got to me.
If it were me, I couldn't have possibly made a decision in such a time. It would have shattered me and completely kill my humanity. It would destroy me to see my children sent up to their because of my choice. I would have remember what I did for the rest of my life and it would haunt me day in and day out till the day I die. The Nazis came up with the most inhumane ways that had me enraged and sad. I couldn't believe the Nazis would declare something like that to anyone with children. How could they do these to people?
Watching the clip from "Sophie's Choice" was really hard to see, knowing that thousands of people actually hand to make that inhumane decision. I can't realistically say what I would've done in a time like that because I can't even fathom what I would do. Neither way seems morally right, it was either that one child died or both did. I think in a time of panic I would've probably done what Sophie did and chosen a child. I would've chosen the child that I thought would've had a better chance to survive in the case that they were put through the worst because I wouldn't want the other child to suffer through it. I think when in a position where you have to make this type of choice it's less about who you love more and more about what is actually best for the child. Would it have been better for the little girl to have lived a little bit longer suffering or be in a place like heaven where she would prosper. As a human being, I don't think I could ever truly answer this question though.
I would rather die than have to live with the amount of guilt that was thrown on to anyone who had to make this awful decision. If I had been in Sophie's shoes, I'd like to think that I would be strong willed enough to throw myself in front of my children and not let them die without risking my own life first because family is the most important thing to me. It's impossible to know what I'd really do if I was thrown into this situation and I could never imagine being forced to make such a heartbreaking choice. I know a lot of people could look at Sophie's decision to give up one of her children as immoral and wrong, but I think that in that instant, the human mind just acts on impulse and does all it can to just protect as much as it can. I think it is possible that many people would have done the same thing as Sophie, given the situation, even though they wouldn't ever think that they'd be forced to make such a decision.
If I was in Sophie's shoes I honestly don't know what I would've done. I would have tried to do everything I could to bargain with the nazis. I would have offered them money or said they could take me instead. If none of that worked I don't think I would have been able to choose. I would not be able to look at my kids and think I want you to survive and I'm going to let you die. In class many people made the argument that they would save one because losing 2 is worse than 1 but to me it wouldn't be. I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of knowing that my child knowing that I chose them to die. I also wouldn't be able to look at the child I did safe with a constant reminder that in order to safe this child I had to kill my other. I wouldn't want my child to feel any guilt either thinking that they should have gone instead of their sibling
If I were in Sophie's position, I honestly don't know what I would do. I cannot even begin to imagine having to make a decision like that and I don't know how I would ever be able to pick between my children, knowing that I was sending one to be killed. I think in the moment, I would make a choice and save one because at least one of my children would have a chance of surviving, but I don't know how I could live with myself knowing I chose one child over the other. The decision that Sophie was forced to make shows just how heartless the Nazis were. They forced people to make impossible decisions and enjoyed their suffering.
Watching this video was very hard. I would not have been able to choose and would not have even known what to say. It is so wrong to make a mother choose which kid to keep and which to give. It is so unhuman to force someone to make a decision like that. i could not have chose.
In all honestly I do no know what I would do in a situation like the one Sophie was put in. Thinking about it for a long time makes me think I would become paralyzed in the moment and subconsciously chose a child out of fear of the situation. This is because i would not be able to make an intentional choice. I would not have been able to live with myself if I let one child go or if I let both children go by not making a decision. If I did send both children away, I would think of it as putting my children into the hands of god because he ultimately knows that I didn't send my children off like that because I wanted to or had the intention of Doing so. Therefore god would put a reason to it all and prevent me from being literally eaten by guilt. Also sending one child away would be justified by god as me giving everything to one child that I couldn't to the other.
Putting myself in Sophie’s position was very hard. I know I would have made a decision, however I can’t begin to fathom having to pick one of my children. Thinking about the decision I would have had to make, I couldn’t make a decision on what to do, but I knew I had to make a decision to save at least one of my children. The entire situation makes me sick to my stomach, but the question really got to me. It would be selfish of me not to save at least one of them just because I would have to live with the regret and have to make an inhuman choice, because that’s exactly what the question was asking for. To be able to answer a question like Sophie’s is inhuman, but to not answer the question is selfish and that is where the predicament lies.
If I were in the position Sophie was in I wish that I could have sacrificed my own life so that my children could live. Because Sophie did not have this option I think that I would make the same decision she had by giving up one of my children. This is because whether I hand over one of my children or both of them I am still going to be left feeling upset and guilty for my choice for the rest of my life. I think that it was smart of Sophie to give up her youngest child because the child was at an age where she needed a lot of attention and Sophie most likely had very little money to support the child. Her older child does not need as much of her and has a better chance of surviving than his younger sister. It is better to save the child with the greatest chance of surviving as there is no point in saving the child that will die soon. Also, her youngest child was very young so she most likely didn't really know what was going on. Sophie's son is old enough that he understands what is going on and would feel horrible knowing that his mother choose his sister over him.
This movie, though I only watched mere minutes of it, affected me more than any other movie we have seen yet to date. I could never in a million years imagine forcing someone to chose between their two children or being forced to chose between my two children. Although I'm not Sophie and I wasn't alive during the time period I do know what I would not choose one of my children. How on earth can someone do that to their child? How can you live with the fact that your son or daughter died thinking that their own mother didn't love them. I would have gone with my children into the gas chambers all together and died together because really quite honestly even if I had chosen the likelihood of the child I did choose being killed later or even days later were extremely high. The nazi's did not care at all about you and why make that decision with such an uncertain outcome. I just don't understand how any of this could have happened.
Watching this film segment showed me even more of the horrors that were brought on by the Nazis. Sophies choice was undoubtedly one of the hardest decisions anyone has had to make, ever. But we have to understand that the Nazis forced this decision upon thousands upon thousands of families during the Holocaust. At the point when Sophie had to choose, one of her children was allready dead, and there was nothing she could do to stop that, but she still had the ability to save one of them. In her position, I would have made the same decision. Her son appeared to be a little older and might have had a slightly better chance of surviving in the camp. The decision, while impossibly difficult to make, was still necessary as a life was still saved.
while watching this movie i was very stressed and didnt really know how to react because i would never even want to think about putting myself in that situation. What she had to do was crazy and i think it is impossible to have to choose one of your children to either die or go on and live. knowing this senario i think it would be impossible for me to choose espically if i was afther. I felt very sorry for her and i would never want to ever be in a situation like she was put into.
I was absent for this film.
If I was in Sophie's position I think I would have made a split second decision to save at least one of my children. I feel that in that second I would have wanted at least one of them to live. Even saving one life is better than giving both up. Seeing a woman have to decide between her two children was awful and knowing that she was not the only one that had to make this decisions makes me so much more disgusted with the Nazis. They made thousands of people make decisions such as this one on a daily basis without feeling any kind of remorse.
I was not in class for this film.
Sophie's choice was probably the hardest choice anyone could make. Sophie faced the decision of whether to choose to save only one child at the expense of the other but later face the guilt of "why didn't I choose my other child?" or "why did I choose this child over my other child?" or, on the other hand, not decide who to save and prevent being overcome with the guilt of choosing one over the other but instead having the guilt of letting them both die because she couldn't make the decision to save one. In that specific moment, with the shock and the amount of time Sophie had, I probably would have made a similar choice and chose to save one of them (to minimize the damage) out of "random."
I think the timing of Sophie's choice is also important. It's important to realize that Sophie literally had seconds to make the hardest decision possible. To the Nazi soldier, it was a game, to make her have to choose in an impossible amount of time. Knowing that, I know that I couldn't have made a decision. I don't even know that it would be because of some rational though, like, I don't want to live with that guilt, but it would be because in those few seconds, I would have panicked and just based on instinct, not been able to pick one of my children to die.
If I was placed in Sophie's shoes I would not have been able to make a decision. I would not be able to pick a child because the other one would have died knowing that I favored the other one. Making a decision like that would have remained on my conscience for the rest of my life. Choosing one child would have saved them but I would not have gotten over the fact that I left the other one behind to face the horrific death camp alone.
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